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Forward by Jeanne Wain
Our Achievements
The Year Margaret Johnson
Who are We
New Challenges and Adventures
Gaining Confidence
Understanding the world and its people
Teamwork and Leadership
Long Service Awards
Financial Activities

ANNUAL REPORT 2003 - 2004

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS THIS YEAR
5372 girls aged 5 - 25 were members of Girlguiding Bedfordshire
26 girls achieved their Baden Powell award- one of Girlguiding UK's most prestigious awards
831 adults and young people volunteered to bring an exciting programme of activities to the girls in Bedfordshire
More than 200,000 hours worth of volunteer time were given to support girls and young women in Bedfordshire - equivalent to 110 full-time jobs in youth worth over £1.1million to Bedfordshire County
120 new potential new leaders were recruited
80 Guiders trained as Mentors
4 Rainbow, 1Guide and 1new Ranger units were opened
187 calls were made to out hotline number from people interested in joining Girlguiding Bedfordshire.
5448 visits were made to our website Back to Top

We are a Hard Working Band - Margaret Johnson, Girlguiding Bedfordshire's County Commissioner
Throughout Bedfordshire, we have a hardworking band of volunteers giving their time freely to provide wonderful guiding opportunities for as many young people as we can acommodate. Everyone in Girlguiding Bedfordshire whatever their role, gives many hours to this work - to meetings and their preparation, to trainings and other events. All of this helps ensure that our young members have a great time. To all of you involved, whoever you are, Iam grateful for everything that you do for all Iknow you will continue to do.

In the past, the only barrier to our work has been the recruitment of the extra adults we need to enable us to admit all the young people on our waiting lists. However, this year we learned that we faced another major problem in the withdrawal of help with our premises costs from the County Council, everywhere except in Luton. There is a great variation in the amount our units are charged for their weekly meetings from a few £'s to in excess of £20 per hour. With the removal of any subsidy on this rent, we have to look again at how we support the girls and young women who take part in Guiding each week.

Over the coming year, we will be working across the County to develop a local response to our needs. This will include:

Reviewing budgeting procedures and making sure that all units are charging realistic subscriptions.
Working with our many landlords to review and agree a fair charge for the use of premises
Ensuring that every unit takes advantage of Gift Aid to return at least 28p in every £1 from every family where a taxpayer pays the subscription
Applying for funding for imaginative projects which benefit our members. To this end, can I urge anyone who is involved or has links with Girlguiding Bedfordshire - parents and relatives, Guiders and our supporters. to let us know if there is any way you can help us to meet the massive funding shortfall we are now facing across the County and to support us as we all look at how we solve this problem.

We believe that every girl in Bedfordshire who wants it should be able to get involved in what guiding has to offer, regardless if where she lives, her race, ethnic origin, religion, whether she has special needs or how much her family earns.

To ensure quality of access to all, we do not want high subscriptions rates to force us to become the preserve of those families who have the money for their children to participate in guiding.

Guiding prepares girls and young women to become citizens of our world today. in Bedfordshire, it is popular, exciting and gives them the chance to 'surprise themselves' - by doing things they would not believe they could do. We make a real difference to the lives of women of all ages and to the community at large. We look forward to continuing to make this valuable contribution in years to come in a way which ensures we quality of access to all.

When you read this, my 5 years in the 'hot seat' will have come to a close and I sign off with my very gratetful thanks for your friendship and for the fantastic support that you have given me through out my term of office. I have so enjoyed my time and wish every one of you success in the future for all that you do with your guiding - you are all part of what makes Girlguiding Bedfordshire so special ...... My thanks to you. Back to Top

Girlguiding Bedfordshire - who are we?
Girlguiding Bedfordshire is the largest voluntary organisation for girls and young women in Bedfordshire. Over 700 volunteers give more than 200,000 hours each year to help run a programme which provides opportunities for girls and young women to:

be challenged by new adventures and experiences and take pride in their achievements
develop self-awareness, self-respect and self-confidence
develop a personal faith and values to give life meaning and direction
think for themselves, govern themselves and make their own decisions
make friends and have fun
develop a sense of tolerance, justice, kindness and honour
learn about teamwork and gain leadership skills
appreciate the environment
understand about the world, its people and cultures

We provide these opportunities in ways that ensure that our members achieve their personal best. We would like all girls and young women in Bedfordshire to have the opportunity to experience tha magic of guiding for themselves - the fun, the friendship and the activities that will be remembered for a lifetime.

If you would like to get involved with Girlguiding Bedfordshire please telephone our hotline number 0780 384 5588 or contact us by email

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Enjoying new challenges and adventures
In Girlguiding Bedfordshire, there are countless opportunities for members of all ages to try out things they would never dream of doing otherwise. This year:-

Guides from Luton and Bedford were selected to go to a camp in Belgium in the summer.
Senior Section Members were chosen to parade the World Flag at the Thinking Day Service at Westmninister Abbey.
A Ranger from Bedford Division was chosen nationally to go on a trip to Switzerland.
Bedfordshire's County training Adviser, Sue Tyler, was one of two trainers who went to Russia to help support Guider Trainers in Kelingrad, Perm and Moscow.
Queen's Guides old and new were invited to the Queen's Estate in Sandringham for afternoon tea and entertainment.
Adults and Senior Section members went on a climbing training in Milton Bryan.
80 people trained as mentors to support 150 new leaders.
45 Guiders and Young Leaders completed their leadership training.
Senior Section members enjoyed a sleepover in January to celebrate Burns Night including a meal, entertainment, Scottish dancing and even athe pipin in of the haggis!
South Bedfordshire Division and also Leighton Heath District wrote and performed a gang show involving people of all ages in fun filled evenings of entertainment.
Guides from across the County had lessons in canoeing and archery.
Guides from around the County did a Baden Powell Challenge where they became journalists for the weekend - visiting Three Counties Radio Station and a Luton Football Club to get their news.
1st Westoning Brownies put on a performance for parents and friends.
1st Pulloxhill and Greenfield Brownies went raftmaking and waterskiing on kneeboards at Willen Lake.
12th Dunstable Brownies held a pack adventure day at Phasels Wood in Hemel Helpstead and tried archery, abseiling, the cresta run and pedal car racing.
Brownies across the County went on a Brownie Safari Day at Milton Bryan and were involved in a fun programme of activities.
3rd Linslade Rainbows painted their faces on the counter of the Crazy Craft Cafe in Leighton Buzzard to raise money for Children in Need.

One of the most exciting new adventures we have been involved with this year was the launch of the new Brownie Adventure. From September, Brownies across Bedfordshire had a new programme of exciting activities and badges to do. To introduce the new programme to parents, many units held open evenings where parents, grandparents and brothers and sisters could try out the new programme. As one grandparent said 'Brownies is much more exciting than it was in my day - can I join?'

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Developng Self Confidence, Tolerance and kindness
Having fun and making friends. That's an important part of guiding. But we want to do more than that. We aim to encourage our members - whatever age they are - to develop their own set of personal values and to have the confidence to take those values with them through life. The kind of values we encourage are self respect, tolerance and understanding of others, kindness, justice and honour. These values run through all aspects of our programme and the many things we do outside our weekly meetings to support others.

This year, for the first time, members across Bedfordshire nominated and then voted for Girlguiding Bedfordshire's Charity of the Year - one organisation we could support for 12 months through our fundraising and community involvement work. Keech Cottage Hospice in Luton received over 60% of out votes and we will be working with them between September 2003 - August 2004 on a range of initiatives.

Many units were involved in raising funds in 2003 including:

Henlow District Guides, Brownies and Rainbows supported by parents, Young Leaders and Guiders took part in a sponsored walk around Shillington, raising £1,100 for the Hospice.
1st Leighton Heath Rainbows took part in the Mr Men Challenge, doing activities aboutthe senses to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital "Leukaemia Fund".
4th Flitwick Brownies held a Bring and Buy sale for Children in Need.
Leighton Heath District did a walk for Wildlife to raise funds for the Word Wildlife Fund.
1st Clifton Brownies had a recycled fashion Show using dustbin bags and recycled items - the money raised went to the Beds and Herts Hedgehog Rescue.
In 2003, in recognition of the unit's fundraising efforts in the previous year, the 9th Leighton Buzzard Brownies were awarded a trophy by WWF for the group that had raised the most amount of money in the country.

Whilst we are not looking for any thanks for the work that we do, we are valued by others for the charitable work we do at both national and local level.

As well as raising funds, we are involved in our local community in many other ways - through the environmental work we do, support for the elderly and our involvment in other community sctivities. Our guiding presence enriches the Bedfordshire community as well as enhancing the lives of our members - young and old.
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Understanding about the World and its People
An awareness and understanding of the wider world in which we live is an essential part of guiding. Celebrating World Thinking Day in February is one of the ways in which we can remember friends in other countries and communities and 2003 saw a range of different activities to do just that:

East Bedfordshire Division held a thinking Day event in Potton. The girls had a choice of 20 challenges to complete through the day, all on an international theme.
Luton North Division organised a Thinking Day service with the theme of "Around the World in an Afternoon". The girls 'travelled by plane' to each continent and every District put on an activity.
Girls across the whole of Bedfordshire got involved in the County's first Radio Postcard Challenge in partnership with Girlguiding Hertfordshire. In Bedfordshire, we sent out over 5,000 postcards to local radio stations with songs and requests from the girls to friends and family. We had a huge success with this, especially Three Counties Radio where we were featured all morning.

At a County level, we continued with the international theme in March when we held our W(ales}I{reland}S{cotland}E{ngland} day for all ages. This was a fun day run by the International Team with outdoor activities, cooking, crafts, dancing and singing. Girls even got a goody bag to take home with them.

Four girls were chosen from within Bedfordshire to go on International trips this year. We also sent more than 80 members to Anglia's International Camp - Bridges '03 - which was held in August. They thoroughly enjoyed all the activities put on from a computerised climbing wall to a rock band along with girls from all five WAGGGS Regions who were represented during the week.

Making Decisions, teamwork and Leadership Skills
Every week in Bedfordshire, more than 5300 girls are involved in a range of activities which are fun, challenging and help them to learn and grow. In addition, we have more than 870 girls on our waiting lists - girls who are just waiting to be given a chance to experience the magic of guiding for themselves. All of this goes to show that we are as popular today as we have always been - if not more so.

But none of this would take place without the involvement and support of the 800 leaders and helpers who run units. Not only do they turn up each week to run activities and supervise the girls, many are also involved in planning and preparing and in training to update their skills to better meet her units' needs. None of them are paid for this. Whilst for most the benefits to be gained from volunteering are reward enough, it is essential we all recognise the contribution they make both to guiding and Bedfordshire as a whole.

Altogether, more than 200,000 hours worth of volunteering time are given each year to support girls and young women in Bedfordshire - equivalent to 110 jobs in youth work at a cost of over £1.1 million.

Our guiders come from every walk of life - ordinary people united by a belief that we can make a difference to the lives of our members to enable her to run a unit, she has to undergo an average of 20 hours training to give her the necessary skills in:

Management
Financial Accounting
Youth Work

With Girlguiding Bedfordshire, if she wants, she can also undertake additional training to become qualified in areas like:

Training
First Aid
Food Hygiene
A range of outdoor activities such as archery, canoeing, walking and abseiling
Camping and Holiday Permits all of which is paid for by us.

We are working hard to recruit and train new helpers to meet the demand fro guiding. Last year alone, we recruited 120 new people - from young people at college, parents, friends and other interested people. We need to do more if we are to be able to achieve our ambitious target of being able to offer everyone who wants it a place in guiding in Bedfordshire.
If you would like to get involved with Girlguiding Bedfordshire please telephone our hotline number 0780 384 5588 or contact us by email

Long Service Bars - 2002 - 2003
30yrs
Luton South Division
Miss Gillian Henley, Stockwood
Luton North Division
Mrs Anne Gibbons, Wardown
Ms Janet Owen, Wardown
20yrs
County
Mrs Margaret Johnson, County commissioner
Bedford Division
Mrs Jane Hancock, Bedford
Dunstable Division
Mrs Elaine Hughes, Toddington & Harlington
East Beds
Mrs Catherine Richmond, Sandy
Luton South Division
Mrs Angela Walker, Stopsley South
Mrs Deborah Bachini, Stopsley North
North Beds Division
Miss Maggie Willis, Ouse Meadows
10yrs
Bedford Division
Mrs Sylvia Gillard, Pohill
Mrs Linda Felton, Bromham
Ms Meshelle Headley, Bedford Park
Ms Nicola Brunsden, Bedford Park
Dunstable Division
Miss Helen Russel, Toddington & Harlington
Mrs Linda Carey, Toddington & Harlington
Mid Beds Division
Mrs Heather Valentine, Flitwick
East Beds Division
Mrs Angela Rigney, Biggleswade
Mrs Edna Gudgin, Shefford
Mrs Sarah hughes, Sandy
Luton South Division
Ms Leigh Beadie, Stopsley South
Miss Kim McFaul, Stopsley South
Ms Tina Hayler, Stopsley South
Ms Jean Miller, Stopsley South
Mrs Janet Locke, Stopsley South
Mrs Jean Newman, St Mary's
Mrs Deborah Winstanley, St Mary's
Mrs Kim Prudan, St Mary's
Mrs Jennie Smith, Stopsley North
Luton North Division
Mrs Eddy Heal, Sundon & Leagrave
Mrs Maria Batchelor, Limbury
Mrs Julie Upton, Limbury
South Beds Division
Miss Julia Chetwynd, Leighton Heath
Mrs Karen Batt, Woburn
North Beds Division
Mrs Jacwueline Gooding, Twinwoods
Mrs Cecelia Brown, Ouse Meadows
Mrs Jacqueline Darrington, Ouse Meadows
Mrs Elspeth Sully, Ouse Meadows
Good Service Brooch
Sue Champkins
County Brooches
Mrs Sheils Dixon
Mrs Sheila Richardson
Mrs June Moss
Mrs Nancy Watkin
Ms Samantha Dalton
Ms Iris Hughes
Miss Wendy Thompson
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